192 Experiments on the Feeding of Sheep. 
It is obvious from the facts just stated, that high temperature 
and drought on the one hand, and an excessive fall of rain on the 
other, were injurious to the progress of the animals. The result 
points to the desirableness of shelter, not only from the more 
inclement weather of winter, but from the heat or excessive 
rains of summer also. It will presently be seen, how very 
large was the amount of food required to produce a given 
amount of increase under the circumstances described. Com- 
paring, however, the progress of these six lots of sheep, when 
turned out during the summer, after having been liberally fed, 
under cover, up to a given point of fatness, with that of a few of 
several of the lots which were fed in the field the whole year 
through, the result was, that the latter did very much better than 
the former through the summer months, and onwards unto the 
time of killing ; so that, over the entire gear, they gave nearly the 
same amounts of increase, in proportion to their weight, as those 
which had been the first half of the time under cover ; although, 
during the exposure of the previous winter they had increased 
much less rapidly, whilst their consumption of food was doubtless 
greater. 
It is not proposed to enter into the same numerical details in 
regard to these few excessively fattened sheep, as it was thought 
desirable to do in the reports of their feeding up to a moderate 
and more practically useful degree of fatness. The results are 
already calculated and tabulated for our own reference ; but 
it is thought that the few general observations made above, as the 
result of a study of the details, will probably serve every useful 
purpose, whilst they will occupy much less space. 
The amounts of food consumed, and of increase yielded, &c., 
during the " first " and " second " periods of feeding respectively, 
are recorded in Tables I., II., and III. 
Table I. gives, for each description of sheep, and for each 
period, the amount of fresh food consumed per head, per week ; 
and both the fresh food, and the dry substance of the food (that 
is, excluding the moisture it contained) consumed per 100 lbs. 
live weight, per week. 
Table II. gives, in like manner, the amounts of fresh food, and 
dry substance of the food, consumed to produce 100 lbs. increase 
in live weight. 
Table III., again, shows the average weight per head, at the 
commencement, and at the conclusion of the experiment ; the 
average increase per head per week ; the average increase per 
100 lbs. live-v/eiglit, per week ; the average weight of carcass 
per head ; and the proportion of carcass, and of some of the 
internal parts, in 100 of live weight. 
